Obama should just say no

A. AKBAR MUHAMMAD |
9/12/2013, 4:01 p.m.

The debate has escalated in recent days as to whether the United States should engage in yet another war and strike Syria. On Aug. 31, President Barack Obama gave a statement from the White House Rose Garden laying out the case for U.S. intervention in Syria and his willingness to seek the approval of Congress before acting.

But for myself, after viewing the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s weekly broadcast, “The Time and What Must Be Done” part 34, I believe his analysis is most timely and important in the discussion on Syria and world events. Farrakhan brought a level of clarity about the civil war in Syria and the worsening political struggles in the Middle East, and he laid out why Obama should just say no to another war in the Middle East. Now that Obama is placing it with congressional leaders to decide, what happens over the coming days is crucial.

I would strongly suggest that our community, concerned Americans in general and leaders throughout the world listen to Farrakhan about the time and complex circumstances we are confronted with. In his broadcast, the minister pricked our conscious to think about the American soldiers who lost their lives, who are maimed and having a difficult time readjusting to society, and the rising rate of suicides among veterans.

Meanwhile, the president of the greatest nation on the earth is being pressured by the military establishment toward a war that will be a great tragedy to the American people and the world. In his broadcast, Farrakhan talked about the role of the military-industrial complex and those who benefit from the control of the oil fields and other natural resources. The minister presented a chart of the 2014 budget showing the U.S. military receiving 57 percent of the total budget. This is another reason why Obama should just say no.

The minister highlighted how wicked elements in and around the U.S. government and its leadership targeted seven Muslim and Arab nations that they wanted to overthrow, destroy and control, namely Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.

Each one of these that they have meddled in thus far has been reduced to chaos, including those nations led by what they called the worst leadership.

There is an axiom that all students should learn: “Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.”

Hopefully, Obama is aware of counter-forces within America whose agenda is to make sure his legacy is tarnished and the people of America turn against him. In the beginning of his presidency, Obama was expected to help bring democracy to the Muslim world, but now in his second term, for the people in the Middle East, his star has waned because he has only added to the mayhem in the Muslim world that the George W. Bush administration began.

In Farrakhan’s broadcast, he cited “America’s errant foreign policy” and Obama’s indecisive role in the current confusion in Egypt, a long-time U.S. ally. The first democratic elections in the history of Egypt elected Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, only for that election to be nullified and aborted by the military with the tacit backing of the United States. Annually, the Egyptian military enjoys over $1 billion in aid from the U.S.